remote control

Philips has outed a new lineup of remotely-controlled lamps, the Hue Phoenix range, integrating "light recipes" which the company claims can stimulate productivity and concentration. Five different styles will be on offer, spanning downlights through table lamps, and finally ceiling lamps, and all with the same UFO-styled lozenge enclosure. As with Philips' Hue Lux bulbs, which we reviewed last year, Phoenix is all about white light.

The smart home might be intended to make our lives easier, but actually upgrading with home automation kit is more like a headache. Ripping out legacy switches and replacing them with their smart brethren isn’t only a headache, it’s out of the question for many who rent rather than own where they live. Startup Switchmate plans to change that, opening up automation with ridiculously simple and non-destructive gadgets that install in seconds. I caught up with the company to find out how a Bluetooth switch could pave the way to making the smart home mass-market.

As we reported last week, Mad Catz has officially announces the S.U.R.F.R and the L.Y.N.X.3 gaming controllers that work with your smartphones. If you're a smartphone gamer or just looking for a companion controller to streamline your multimedia at home you'll want to check out their latest offering.

Universal remote controls are a dime a plenty and even smartphones have apps that try to perform those tasks. And yet here comes Ray, a "Super Remote" with a new look and a new promise. But why would you want to spend money on yet another remote to add to your growing (and eventually disappearing) collection? Well for one, it's quite pretty. But more than shininess, Ray actually has a user interface that makes sense in today's age of digital content and smart TVs.

Anki has come a long way since its robotic racecar toys made their mildly-cringeworthy debut on-stage at an Apple keynote, and Anki OVERDRIVE is the new fleet for 2015. Like Anki DRIVE, the new OVERDRIVE cars are controlled remotely from an iOS or Android phone or tablet, the brains of the device providing a surprisingly capable driving AI that means even if you're playing by yourself there's still competition. For OVERDRIVE, however, Anki addressed two key requests from existing players: they wanted a modular track they could set up in different configurations, and they wanted even more ways to express their road rage.

Streaming multiroom audio favorite Sonos has updated its platform, making controlling several rooms of playback more straightforward, and boosting appeal on tablets. Sonos Software version 5.3, currently available to beta testers before it goes live for all users, builds on the updated Sonos controller app that the company tweaked last year - adding multiple streaming account support, among other things - bringing control over each playback zone further to the fore, as well as individual playback options for the current track, including turning the system into more of a DJ experience.

Qblinks has introduced its new Qmote, a small remote control with a single button and multiple functions, depending on what the user wants to use it for. Smartphone control is performed using click patterns, which are pre-defined for certain actions like making your phone alert when you can't find it or turning on the rear light. This usefulness grows when one is using a home automation system, allowing different click patterns to be set for triggering different smart appliances like lights.

Ford's new Palo Alto research center may have driverless cars on the menu, but technology shifting the human driver from the car to across the country might be closer to primetime if engineers have their way. Virtual valets and remotely-piloted car sharing schemes could take advantage of increasingly electrified cars and faster LTE networks, Ford's Mike Tinskey explained to me, with a controller potentially thousands of miles away taking the wheel when a local driver isn't available or practical. Right now, that means going on a joyride in an Atlanta parking lot, when you're actually sat at a Logitech gaming wheel in California.

You could hardly walk five paces through the halls at CES 2015 without stumbling over a wireless light bulb. Connected lighting seems determined to be the point of entry to domestic home automation, and there are plenty - startups and larger - hoping to corner the market. Ironically, then, the company which arguably created the market, Philips, had decamped to a nearby hotel, outfitting a suite with a full array of hue bulbs and lamps. I stopped by to get a demo of the newest 12 Monkeys hue light-soundtrack support, as well as to find out what's coming up next as the smart home accelerates.

Does the world need another connected lightbulb? Misfit believes the answer is yes, and it's taking advantage of its existing place on people's wrists to give its Bolt bulb an edge. Launched at CES this week, the color-changing LED light is quite content to do the usual hue-like switching of tones between different presets; however, it can also wirelessly connect to Misfit's Shine and Flash wearables, along with the Beddit sleep monitor, and tie lighting effects into your sleep patterns.